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Iran president makes 9/11 claims after UN walkout
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said he believes - as an engineer - the World Trade Center towers could not have been brought down by aircraft.
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The maths problem that could bring the world to a halt
It’s not easy to accurately predict what humans want and when they will want it. We’re demanding creatures, expecting the world to deliver speedy solutions to our increasingly complex and diverse modern-day problems.
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Why humans have evolved to drink milk
Dairy milk has competition. Alternative “milks” made from plants like soya or almonds are increasingly popular. These alternatives are often vegan-friendly and can be suitable for people who are allergic to milk, or intolerant of it.
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Why we need to reinvent democracy for the long-term
“The origin of civil government,” wrote David Hume in 1739, is that “men are not able radically to cure, either in themselves or others, that narrowness of soul, which makes them prefer the present to the remote.
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The transformational power of how you talk about your life
Imagine that, when you were 12 years old, your family moved to the other side of the country. In your new school, you were bullied for the first time.
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From Refinery 29
This article was originally published by Refinery29. Read the original post here. As a consultant dermatologist based in London, I have been seeing patients with skin conditions for well over a decade. Acne is one of my main areas of interest.
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The mystery of why some people become sudden geniuses
This story is featured in BBC Future’s “Best of 2018” collection. Discover more of our picks. It was the summer of 1860 and Eadweard Muybridge was running low on books. This was somewhat problematic, since he was a bookseller.
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Has humanity reached ‘peak intelligence’?
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The strange science inside your sourdough
In a room of refrigerators in Belgium live more than 110 jars of flour, water, and magic.
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How and why did religion evolve?
These words, recorded in the Gospels as being spoken by Jesus during the Last Supper, are said daily at Church services around the world before the communion meal is eaten.
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The perils of short-termism: Civilisation’s greatest threat
This article is the first in a new BBC Future series about the long view of humanity, which aims to stand back from the daily news cycle and widen the lens of our current place in time.
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A frozen graveyard: The sad tales of Antarctica’s deaths
BBC Future has brought you in-depth and rigorous stories to help you navigate the current pandemic, but we know that’s not all you want to read. So now we’re dedicating a series to help you escape.
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Israel cave bones: Early humans 'conserved food to eat later'
Scientists in Israel say they have found evidence that early humans deliberately stored bones from animals to eat the fatty marrow later. It is the earliest evidence that humans living between 200,000 and 420,000 years ago had the foresight to anticipate future needs, they say.
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The surprising benefits of being blinded by love - BBC Future
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Will we ever control the world with our minds?
Science-fiction can sometimes be a good guide to the future. In the film Upgrade (2018) Grey Trace, the main character, is shot in the neck. His wife is shot dead. Trace wakes up to discover that not only has he lost his wife, but he now faces a future as a wheelchair-bound quadriplegic.
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Japan ninja student gets top marks for writing essay in invisible ink
A Japanese student of ninja history who handed in a blank paper was given top marks - after her professor realised the essay was written in invisible ink.Eimi Haga followed the ninja technique of "aburidashi", spending hours soaking and crushing soybeans to make the ink.
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Tomorrow’s Gods: What is the future of religion?
Before Mohammed, before Jesus, before Buddha, there was Zoroaster. Some 3,500 years ago, in Bronze Age Iran, he had a vision of the one supreme God.
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Why ‘flight shame’ is making people swap planes for trains
Last month I stepped into an aeroplane for the first time in five years. I was leaving my home in London and taking a flight across the Atlantic to join my partner in Costa Rica. The last time I flew was in 2014, while living in Bordeaux, France.
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The truth about eating eggs
As many countries urge populations to stay at home, many of us are paying more attention to our diets and how the food we eat can support our health. To help sort out the fact from the fiction, BBC Future is updating some of our most popular nutrition stories from our archive.
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Catholic Church: Could Pope Francis say 'yes' to married priests?
Catholic bishops from around the world are meeting at the Vatican to discuss the future of the Church in the Amazon. Over the next three weeks, some 260 participants will talk about climate change, migration and evangelism.
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Osama Bin Laden's Abbottabad house 'was al-Qaeda hub'
Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was in active control of the terror network from his compound in northern Pakistan, US intelligence services now believe. Reversing assessments that Bin Laden lived a nomadic existence, the US now says his Abbottabad house was a command and control centre.
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Pornography 'one click away' from young children
Children are stumbling upon pornography online from as young as seven, a report has indicated. The survey, from the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), suggested three-quarters of parents felt their child would not have seen porn online but more than half had done so.
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A brief history of gender neutral pronouns
Last week Sam Smith came out as non-binary and asked fans to use the pronouns they/them instead of he/him. It caused a debate online - especially after The Associated Press wrote up the story using he pronouns.
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Spider season: Why amorous arachnids are invading our homes
Forget Halloween or Boxing Day with your family, the scariest time of the year is already here: spider season. But what may be a petrifying period for us is actually a blast for the arachnids as they're out looking for love.
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First measurements of 'interstellar comet'
Astronomers are gathering measurements on a presumed interstellar comet, providing clues about its chemical composition. The object, C/2019 Q4 (Borisov), is only the second interstellar object ever identified, after 'Oumuamua, which was spotted in 2017.
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